About

$26,762

pledged of $26,625 goal

163

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Project Description

Global Press Institute (GPI) uses journalism as a development tool to educate, employ and empower women, who become professional local reporters producing ethical, authentic news coverage that elevates global awareness and ignites social change.

Over the last 7 years we have trained and employed 133 women across 26 developing countries to be ethical, investigative, award-winning journalists. This year we are adding a robust photojournalism training program to enrich the quality and impact of our work.

We need your help to train 30 GPI reporters in 10 developing countries to use the power of photojournalism to create even more world-changing news coverage.

At GPI, we believe that in the hands of women, journalism and photojournalism can elevate global awareness and spur local change on a variety of issues.

First, we will team up with brilliant, professional photojournalists around the world who will host in-person photojournalism and technology trainings with GPI reporters in 10 developing countries. The trainings will enable our reporters to elevate the quality of images they take to pair with their award-winning news coverage.

The training will conclude with the trainers taking portraits of the GPI reporters to be included in the "Through Our Eyes" photo exhibition, which will tour 3 American cities in 2014! The portraits will represent the diverse locations where GPI operates – Haiti, Zambia, Kashmir, Cameroon and Sri Lanka to name a few! These images will powerfully represent the brave, bold women of GPI who have dedicated themselves to the craft of journalism in order to bring positive change to our world.

Finally, for 12 months after the trainings we will gather the best and most powerful images captured by GPI reporters in the course of their reporting. These high-impact photographs will address local social justice and human rights issues as well as showcase the beauty and development occurring in their communities. The images will fill the pages of the first ever GPI photography book “Through our Eyes” – an image driven narrative of the power and potential of GPI!

Supporting this project means enabling us to train women journalists in 10 developing countries to use the power of photojournalism to create social change. It will also create of two high-impact pieces of art – a photography book and portrait exhibition. Both will celebrate the women journalists and photojournalists of GPI who use journalism as a development tool to ignite social change!

Why do we do it?

GPI has had an enormous impact on the world – training journalists, elevating global awareness on critical issues, and igniting social change. More than 25% of GPI stories in the last two years have catalyzed direct action, sparking social protest, provoking international attention to issues first covered by GPI, and even changing laws in two countries.

For example, in 2011, when the Parliament of Nepal passed a new anti-discrimination law about inter-caste marriages, a member of the Prime Minister’s legal team credited GPI Senior Reporter Tara Bhattarai with forcing the issue into the national conversation.

GPI’s 2012 reporter survey demonstrated the impact that GPI has on the lives of the women in the program: 100% reported having a greater sense of basic journalism principles and journalistic ethics after GPI training, while 79% said they can now use a computer more efficiently. Additionally, 100% reported having a greater understanding of journalistic ethics after GPI training.

Reporters in the GPI Kashmir News Desk participated in a photojournalism training last month. Photo by Mansi Midha.

Risks and challenges

Global Press Institute operates news desks in 26 countries throughout the developing world. The safety and security of our journalists is our top priority.

Each GPI News Desk has a comprehensive risk management plan. GPI has developed an original security evaluation reporting tool that not only measures media freedom in a country, but looks at media laws through a gender lens.

GPI has conducted updated security reports with a focus on laws related to photojournalism before embarking on this project.

About Global Press Institute
GPI is building a network of professional women journalists throughout the developing world who earn a fair wage for reporting on their local communities. Their unique coverage of issues overlooked by mainstream media contributes directly to the development and empowerment of their communities, brings greater transparency to their countries, and changes the way the world views their people and cultures.

The heart of GPI is a unique training-to-employment model that teaches traditional reporting skills, digital literacy and advanced writing skills to women around the world. Each woman who completes the training program receives an offer of employment and goes on to work within GPI’s sophisticated global network of editors, story coaches, mentors and fact checkers. The combination of skills-based education and long-term employment in a dignified profession empowers the women reporters and increases their quality of life and provides the means by which they can elevate living standards for themselves and their families.

GPI trains and employs local women to cover issues absent from the pages of mainstream media, which focuses on disaster, war and disease. GPI reporters possess innate cultural, societal and historical knowledge of their communities that foreign correspondents lack, translating to more genuine news coverage. GPI news is widely disseminated in the local community where it is produced as well as globally in English

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

ASSOCIATE: We'll shake your hand! Our $25 contributors will receive a personal thank you email from a GPI reporter. You will also receive one free ticket to the "Through Our Eyes" gallery exhibit in New York, Portland, or San Francisco.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

ADVOCATE: We'll give you a giant eHug! Our $50 contributors will receive a personal thank you email from a GPI reporter. Plus, you will receive access to the private diary of photographs taken behind the scenes during GPI photojournalism trainings in 10 countries! You will also receive two free tickets to the "Through Our Eyes" gallery exhibit in New York, Portland, or San Francisco.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

BENEFACTOR: We'll be eternally grateful! In addition to the thank you email from a GPI reporter and access to the private diary of behind the scenes photographs, you will receive two free tickets to the "Through Our Eyes" gallery exhibit in New York, Portland or San Francisco. The best part? You will receive GPI's signature "Truth." t-shirt!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

PATRON: We'll salute your generosity! $250 pays for a camera and training for 1 GPI reporter in a developing country!!

In addition to thank yous, the private diary, the two free tickets to the gallery exhibit and the t-shirt -- our $250 contributors will also receive one of the stunning professional portraits (8x10) of a GPI reporter who will be featured in the portrait exhibit.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

PARTNER: We'll consider you part of the team! In addition to thank yous, the private diary, tickets to the gallery exhibit, and the t-shirt -- our $500 contributors will also receive the "Through Our Eyes" full color, 7x7, photography book that features extraordinary images and powerful faces of the women of GPI.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

CHAMPION: We'll induct you into the Hall of Fame!! $1,000 pays for a training for 5 GPI reporters in a developing country!! In addition to thank yous, the private diary, tickets to the gallery exhibit, the t-shirt AND the gorgeous 7x7 full color photography book...we'll throw a little icing on the cake! You will be invited to attend the first annual GPI World Summit -- a gathering of all 130+ GPI reporters and editors from around the world -- in Boston in June 2014. The GPI World Summit promises to be a truly inspiring, life changing gathering of changemakers, like you!